Road Fish

I have been going out at noon for the
past two weeks. I have seen fish working
along the edge of the rip rap along the
rod, but have not been able to connect
with any of them. I have made long casts,
short casts and used a variety of flies,
but no luck.

I went out again today and just watched
the water along the rip rap. I could see
that there were fish along this but they
were very spooky. Every time a car went
along the road they would be gone for a
few minutes and then they would slowly
return. I wondered if they were picking
up the vibrations as I moved along the rocks,
even though I tried to do it quietly.

Now I am wondering on how to try for these
fish, even as spooky as they are. Then from
the dim dark recesses of my mind, comes a
memory of a story I have read. The author
said that he often stayed way back from a
pond or stream and cast so just a foot or
so of the leader went into the water with the
fly. He stated that he caught several fish
doing this.

I head down the road, walking very slowly.
I am going to cast from the road and see if
I can drop the fly just out into the water
and have any luck. I have just started when
a car comes down the road. I move to the place I
want to be and stop. I wait and watch until I
see the water moving again as something is
working along the shoreline. The water is
just cloudy enough that I can't see anything,
but I do see the water moving.

I have a black woolly bugger variation on and
drop this fly about three feet in front of where
I see the water moving. I wait a minute or so
and I see the line twitch. I wait until the line
moves and set the hook. I have a carp on the line
and he takes off for regions unknown. This fish
takes me into the backing three times before I
can get him near the shore. I spend another 5
to 10 minutes fighting the fish along the shore
before I can land him. This fish is 23 inches
long. I get the hook out with the forceps. I
return the fish to the water.

I got back up to the road and toward the other
end of the rip rap. I slowly and quietly move
into position. I can see that there is a fish
swimming along the rip rap. This fish moves up
and down and seems to make a circuit. I watch
for a few minutes to get the timing and cast
so the fly is about 6 feet in front of where
I think the fish is. I let the fly drop and I
don't move it.

Just as I think the fish should be there the
line tightens and I am into another fish. This
fish acts differently than the carp and I think
that I am into a catfish. I gain a little line
and lose a little line. For the first 15 minutes
or so the fish is moving away from the shore as
it swims back and forth. I finally begin to gain
some line. This is a very slow process. I finally
get the fish close enough that I can see it and I
have a big channel cat on the line. The fish takes
off again and we go through the process again. I
finally get the fish to shore and can measure it
at 26 inches. The hook is in the mouth and fairly
easy to remove. I let this fish go also.

The next time I am out at the lake I am going
to look for fish along the rip rap again. It
was great fun catching them.